


The Ties That Bind

by Hiddenkindzero



Category: Danny Phantom, Supernatural
Genre: Absent John Winchester, BAMF Danny, Danny Fenton Is So Done, Danny Fenton Needs A Hug, Family, Found Family, Ghost King Danny Fenton, John Winchester Tries, Protective Dean Winchester, Protective Sam Winchester
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-21
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:53:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28209372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hiddenkindzero/pseuds/Hiddenkindzero
Summary: A part of John Winchesters past comes back to haunt him. For once, yellow eyes isn't his biggest issue.All Danny wants is to be with his family again. He'll settle with killing the monster who murdered them instead.
Comments: 21
Kudos: 232





	The Ties That Bind

Danny checked the address in his parents worn-looking journal, then double checked it, and checked it again. The building he was parked outside of didn’t look like much. It was an old wooden roadhouse in the middle of the woods. The road was all dirt, and he would have assumed the place was abandoned if not for the well kept vehicles parked in the front.

Danny opened the drivers door of the Fenton Assault Vehicle (remodeled to look like a news van) and stepped onto the dirt. He patted his sides, making sure he had his gun and that it was concealed before closing the door to the van. He took one last look at the building before jogging across the lot and entering.

A bell rang above his head, and Danny was relieved to see that the old bar actually had someone standing behind it. She was brunette, slightly taller than Danny, and wearing a green jacket and jeans. She had looked up when the bell rang, but was now shaking her head and wiping down the counter.

“We’re closed.” she smiled to herself a bit and added “and you look a little too young to have a drink.”

“Sorry,” Danny walked his way to the counter and took a seat at the bar, minding the counter. “But I’m looking for the owner of the bar, Ellen. I need to ask her some questions.”

“Well you found her.” Ellen put the rag to the side and leaned her elbow on the counter.“What can I do for you.”

“I um-” Danny put the journal on the counter and asked “This is a hunters bar right?”

Ellen frowned. “What kind of hunting are you talking about?”

“The uh” Danny looked like he was afraid of getting laughed out of the bar and with a slightly unsure voice said “The ghost kind?”

“Alright.” There was no judgement in her voice, but Ellen was concerned. “If you have a job I can pass it off to the next Hunters that come by. Or if it’s urgent I can make a few calls.”

Danny shook his head, relieved he had gotten the right place. “ Actually, I’m looking for someone. Do you know John Winchester?”

Ellen stood straight and crossed her arms. “What’s it to you?” 

“It’s kind of a long story. Can you tell me where he is, I really need to talk to uh.” Danny couldn’t keep the irritation out of his voice as he said “Talk to him.”

Ellen turned away from him, whispering a sharp ‘cristo’ that Danny could barely hear, and grabbed a cup from beneath the counter.

“Bless you.”

Ellen looked put off for a second. “Here.” She placed the cup in front of him, and used one of the drink hoses to fill it up.

“I read about these kinds of things in my parents journal.” Danny tapped the object as he said it and continued. “There’s holy water in this right? It’s for uh … demons?”

If Danny sounded unsure, it was because he was. Nevertheless, he drank the whole glass before Ellen could say a word, and pushed the cup out of the way.

“What’s next, touching Iron?”

Ellen tapped some kind of screen from under the counter, probably a camera, and said “Your fine. I’m sorry but you can’t be too careful. Especially when John’s involved.”

Danny wasn’t upset, especially with how nice she had been so far. 

“It’s fine. I’m Danny by the way.”

“Danny.” Ellen nodded, as if the name met her approval. “And what do you want with John. He’s not exactly the most social hunter.”

“It’s kind of personal-”

“What isn’t with that man.” Ellen rolled her eyes.

Danny sighed. He could tell already that he wouldn’t get any information unless he explained himself, and while he could get the info he needed from possessing her, he’d rather not.

“Look.” Danny took a second to figure out how he wanted to say it before continuing. “My parents passed away recently. John knew them, and I think you did too? Their names were Jack and Maddie Fenton and-”

Ellen felt like someone had blown a hole in her. Her body caved in half for a second before she rebounded, her hand covering her mouth.

Danny had been in hell since the day his family had died, so he didn’t mind giving her a moment to compose herself. If anything, he was glad there was someone outside of Amity that would mourn them.

Ellen pulled a stool from underneath the counter and sat down, her elbows on the table and her hands framing her head. “The Fentons are gone?”

“Yeah.” Danny whispered out.

Ellen immediately straightened. “And you're their son? God I’m so sorry.”

“Thank you.”

“The Fentons, they were going to be revolutionary. There’s not a hunter in the world that didn’t look up to ‘em. When they finally decided to settle down, I was so happy for them and -” Ellen paused, as if she just remembered something. “And their little girl, Jazz. Is she…?”

Danny was silent for a moment before saying “Every single Fenton that was alive has been killed. Except for me.”

Ellen was stunned.

“I think it was out of revenge. I mean, if it was just my parents then it could’ve been any random asshole, but everyone, even my aunts and uncles. They're all gone.” Danny grabbed the journal off the counter and flipped to the middle of it. “This is the last hunt my parents documented, and it’s the only one that, from what I can tell, was never resolved. I think that whatever they failed to kill, it came back for revenge. The problem is that my parents barely wrote about it. All I know is that the only reason they took the case in the first place was because John Winchester asked them too.”

“And that’s why you need John.”

“Right. I need to know what killed my family, and I need to figure out how to kill it before it kills me.”

“Danny that’s-” Ellen shook her head, and sighed. “That’s awful, and I’m sorry. But John’s basically M.I.A. Nobody knows where he is, and he’s not keen on answering his phone. I can send him a voicemail and give you his number, but that's the most I can do when it comes to him.”

Danny looked to the side and sighed. “If that’s all you can do. I appreciate it.” 

“Here.” Ellen turned his journal so it faced her and flipped to the last page. “Here’s our numbers.”

Danny watched as she wrote in not two but five numbers onto the page.

“Who’s the other three?”

“The last one's Bobby Singer's number. If you ever find yourself in the middle of a hunt, and you don’t know how to kill the thing, Bobby can tell you how. The other two are John’s sons, Sam and Dean. They’re looking for John themselves, so I’ll make sure to tell them to call you if they find him. ” Ellen explained.

“John has kids!?”

Ellen was taken back by how surprised Danny was but nodded.

“Sorry.“ Danny wouldn’t look at Ellen but from what she could tell, he seemed a little upset. “My parents actually have some entries about him. With all the things I’ve read, I’m surprised someone let him actually have children.”

“Don’t worry, Dean and Sam came out just fine. They won’t give you any trouble, I promise.”

“Sure.” Danny stood up, then paused. “You wouldn’t happen to have a picture of John would you? It’d be really bad if I passed him by chance and didn’t even know it.”

“Let me see what I can find.”

Ellen walked to the back area of the roadhouse, leaving Danny at the counter. Danny stared at the numbers written in the journal, memorizing them, before ripping a small part of the page off and using the pen Ellen had used to write his own number down for her.

She was back by the time he finished, but she seemed to have picked up a straggler.

“This is my daughter.”

She smiled softly and Danny knew immediately that Ellen had told her the bad news.

“Jo Harvelle. It’s nice to meet you. I’m sorry for your loss.”

Danny nodded to her. “I’m Danny, and thanks.”

“Here’s the picture you wanted.” It was an old polaroid. Ellen was posing with a tall man in flannel. He was smiling, which must have been pretty rare.

“This is perfect.” Danny did his best to memorize every part of the man before giving Ellen the photo back. “I’ll find him in no time now. Thanks for everything.”

“It’s the least I can do.”

Danny grabbed his journal, made sure he had everything, and made for the door. “Thanks again.”

“Danny!” 

Danny stopped right at the door and looked back to Ellen.

“Jo and I were talking.” Ellen started. “It’s dangerous to go hunting by yourself, and I doubt your parents actually taught you much about the job before they passed… “

Jo continued for her. “I can come with you. I’ll teach you everything you need to know about hunting, and it’s good to have someone watch your back. Especially when you're just starting out.”

For a second Danny looked completely surprised.

And then he laughed.

It wasn’t mocking by any meter. He actually sounded pretty happy, but despite that there was a certain feeling of danger to it that the Harvelles couldn’t really register.

“I’m thankful for the offer really!” Danny grinned “But don’t count me out. I’m a Fenton too ya know, so don’t worry”

He gave them one last wave and said “Thanks for all the help. I’ll see you guys later!” before walking out.

The Harvelles stood in silence for a couple seconds before Jo said. “You know, he reminds me of someone.”

“Dean.” Ellen answered immediately.

“No way.”

Ellen shook her head. “You never saw him as a teen, but Danny looked just like him. I actually have a picture somewhere…”

The girls made their way to the back. Out in the parking lot, Danny was setting the van to drive itself back home. Danny made sure to keep his parents Journal in hand before jumping out of the vehicle and slamming the drivers door shut. The van shot off, going way over the speed limit and shooting up a cloud of dust.

Watching as the van disappeared, Danny focused on the mental image of Jon in his mind until he felt a pull.

It took a fraction of a second. In one moment he was standing in the roadhouse’s parking lot and in the next he was standing in the middle of a highway at night, two headlights heading towards him at lethal speeds. Danny didn’t panic in the slightest. His teleportation was one of his newest powers, and as result it was kind of finicky, but now that he could see the car (John Winchester's car most likely) teleporting into the back seat was as easy as blinking.

The man driving, who WAS John Winchester thankfully, saw Danny in the rearview mirror and swore, swerving his car to the side of the road. John hit the breaks, and in one smooth motion, grabbed a rock salt shotgun and shot at Danny.

The weapon might have worked on spirits, but Danny was a full on (well, half on really) ghost and all needed to do was turn intangible to avoid the shot.

“‘Sup.”

John ejected himself from the car, his shotgun pointed at the rear door. Danny didn’t bother opening it, instead he phased through the car and watched John shoot two more shots at him, the salt embedding itself into the poor door instead.

“Are you done?”

“What the hell are you?!”

It was kind of fun watching John have an aneurysm in front of him, but Danny didn’t have that kind of time to waste.

“I’m human.”

“Bullshit!” John yelled.

“I was in a lab accident when I was fourteen.” Danny tried to take a step forward but John merely stepped back. “My parents messed with something they probably shouldn't have, and I ended up like this.”

A white ring burned into existence around Danny and split in half, traveling along Danny's body as he transformed. Danny, now in his ghost form, floated lazily into the air and stared at John with glowing green eyes.

“Christ.” John breathed out. 

“Technically,” Danny said “I AM human. I’m just a little uh-”

Danny rubbed the back of his neck, his eyes looking to the side while he racked his brain for the best way to say it.

“You're dead.”

“Only half!” Danny objected, his voice rising in pitch. “I’m half dead, and I can go back to being half alive whenever I want!” To prove his point, the white rings of his transformation spawned again and his feet hit the ground in the next second.

“What-” John lowered his shotgun a fraction, confusing evident in his face before snapping his shotgun back up, his face screwed into a glare. “What do you want?”

“Your help.” Danny started to walk towards John but again the man backed away.

“Oh come on!” Danny snapped. “You can’t hurt me, and If I wanted to hurt you you’d be a popsicle already! Now come over here, you're wasting time.”

John didn’t move at first, the two of them getting into a stubborn staring contest until Danny realized that John really wasn’t going to move and promptly teleported in front of the man instead.

John shot on reflex, the shells phasing through Danny yet again. Danny grabbed the barrel of the shotgun unflinchingly and yanked it out of John's hands, the shotgun itself getting thrown several feet over Danny’s shoulder and that’s when John swung at him.

The blow missed by a mile, not due to Danny’s intangibility but by John overestimating Danny’s height and swiping at the air above Danny’s head instead.

It was at that moment that John noticed how young Danny really was. The kid’s height was barely average, and he looked to be in that awkward stage of puberty where everything was disproportionate and walking without tripping over himself was a chore. Both Sam and Dean had gone through the same thing when they had been younger and John had had to break up more than a couple fights between his boys once Dean, older and finished growing, had started making fun of Sam for it. Thinking of Dean, John couldn’t help but see how similar the two boys looked, from the black hair to the scowl that rested on his face.

“Hey uh, you ok? You're not gonna faint on me right? I thought you were supposed to be the greatest hunter, or whatever.”

John jerked back, realizing he’d been staring. “How old are you?”

Danny straightened, crossing his arms as if to look bigger than he was. “I’m sixteen.”

“Sixteen.” John repeated. “And you… “ Johns brain stalled for a second. “You're half dead?”

“Look.” Danny sighed. “We don’t have time for this. My family was murdered, and you're going to help me find what killed them, so I can kill it.”

John stared at Danny and said, “And why would I do that?”

“Because,” Danny shoved his parents journal into John's chest.  
John recognized the journal as the Fentons instantly. He had seen them write in it, had seen what was written in it. This boy-

“I’m your son.”


End file.
